Just stop paying (collectors, amex, financing, judgement)

[thunked]

On the apartment. Good ol' rental history is more important. Pay your rent and you're fine.

[killer2021]

5,000? That is nothing I know people who have walked away from 100,000+ in debt. Lost their job and bam now suddenly they qualify for the liquidation method of bankruptcy. Smart move if you ask me! It would have taken years to pay it off! 7 years of having a bankruptcy on your credit is so much easier!

If anyone has a large amount of debt, I highly recommend filing for bankruptcy. Noting wrong with it. Everyone needs a fresh start.

[texdav]

In the edn the crdit card company could careless waht he does really. it just goes from account to the legal department to be handled along with thousands of others. Routine; small debt default. Eventually sale the debt and if called refer him to a collector that now owns the debt.End of story for them

[Houston3]

Originally Posted by Greatday

They can sue you. Attach your paycheck. Attach any other real or personal assets you may have. They can garnish your wages - attach your bank accounts - attach your car -

I suggest you try to talk to your creditors and do a work out -

Not in Texas. They can sue but can attach nothing or very little. Texas is consumer friendly. If you have two houses they may be able to take the one you do not live in but that's about it.

But if you owe it, pay it.

[bentlebee]

Originally Posted by loose cannon

Im seriously considering calling my cc companies and telling them that Im no longer paying my 5,000 debt as I can no longer afford it and I was drunk anyway when I accumulated the debt. Im literally going to stop making payments. What can they do to me legally? Im just tire of living paycheck to paycheck.. There was a time I could save money and fly the friendly skies! Now, Im stuck. Im just not doing iot anymore. If they want money they will have to come to my house and personally take it from me. Im even going to change my account so they cannot garnish my wages! The heck with them! Any advice or encouragement?

Don't come crying when in a few years you can't get a loan, credit card, car loan or you can't get a home/apartment to rent....

It is your decision and why should we car whne you don't care and spend the money your self!

it is also you who has to deal with the consequences

[darstar]

Although I don't advise it , 5,000 CC debt is peanuts , the Company will forget about the debt in 2 years , especially if they can't find you by phone. If you change your address , that will completely throw them off. These companies have thousands of un secured debt like this to handle , every day . Its not profitable to spend much time on it. Since its unsecured , they can not attach anything you have , unless they get a judgment via a law suit. They won't bother for 5,000. Your credit will be bad , for about 4 years, depends on several factors, like job , income , etc.
Your other option is to work out a payment plan. They won't talk to you about that until you are several months behind on payments. You should be able to settle for 3,000 cash , maybe less. They like one time pay offs , especially if your debt has gone to collection , and the CC company has already sold the account.
There are a lot of people that have 100,000 or less CC debt , that can't pay it, these days. The problem is getting bigger by the day. Look for the Government to offer some forgiveness in this area very soon. Who knows , as the credit card companies go under , you may wind up owing the money to the Feds. or a Federal Court.

[texdav]

What government is about to do that is in actual bills in Congress now is not to eliminate or take on any of the credit card risk at all. The main thing they are going is to change the rate of credit by limiting set rates on all non-new credit. What this does is change the rewards to risk factor on credit cards. What this will do is tighten credit card lending. Already people are seeing credit cards being lower in limit and some cards being canceled all together.The end result is tightening of credit i the credit card industry to where credit cards will be more like the old American Express standards which limited those that actually got them. Overall its a sound move for the economy but will change the credit game.Today is not yesterday or certainly not the future in any thing to do with credit ;unsercured or secured.

[darstar]

What is happening now , is unprecedented , in the history books. The economy is in worse shape than most of us know. The signs on the street ,can be deceiving.......stay tuned , its coming.
What happens with the massive stimulus plans , will be interesting to watch. Some people will actually profit from all this , but most will not. The Credit Card industry is very large, and will be one of the last markets to go down, if it ever does.However , yes , changes in interest rates , terms , credit availability, will happen , but not so much as to stop the business. There has just been too much profit in it. If anything , I look for this business actually increase in volume . The money lenders will always be around , credit card lending is fast,simple, and very profitable.

[colleeng47]

Originally Posted by darstar

Although I don't advise it , 5,000 CC debt is peanuts , the Company will forget about the debt in 2 years , especially if they can't find you by phone. If you change your address , that will completely throw them off. These companies have thousands of un secured debt like this to handle , every day . Its not profitable to spend much time on it. Since its unsecured , they can not attach anything you have , unless they get a judgment via a law suit. They won't bother for 5,000. Your credit will be bad , for about 4 years, depends on several factors, like job , income , etc.
Your other option is to work out a payment plan. They won't talk to you about that until you are several months behind on payments. You should be able to settle for 3,000 cash , maybe less. They like one time pay offs , especially if your debt has gone to collection , and the CC company has already sold the account.
There are a lot of people that have 100,000 or less CC debt , that can't pay it, these days. The problem is getting bigger by the day. Look for the Government to offer some forgiveness in this area very soon. Who knows , as the credit card companies go under , you may wind up owing the money to the Feds. or a Federal Court.

A word of advice: A friend of my worked out a re-payment plan with her CC company, and they wrote off some of her debt. However, after it was paid she received a call from a collection agency who had purchased her debt for the full amount. Unfortunately, she had nothing in writing (this was done over the phone) to show that the CC company had agreed to reduce her debt. She was stuck paying the rest of the bill. If you work out any plan with the CC company, get it in writing!

[darstar]

Originally Posted by colleeng47

A word of advice: A friend of my worked out a re-payment plan with her CC company, and they wrote off some of her debt. However, after it was paid she received a call from a collection agency who had purchased her debt for the full amount. Unfortunately, she had nothing in writing (this was done over the phone) to show that the CC company had agreed to reduce her debt. She was stuck paying the rest of the bill. If you work out any plan with the CC company, get it in writing!

One more good reason , to make a one time settlement deal with the CC company. Even if you have to borrow from relatives or friends , to make it happen , at lest you will get a clean closure , and , stop the high interest bleeding. The deal will effect your credit score , may even improve it in the end. From what I have been told , once you make a deal , pay it off , you will start getting offers again for more credit cards , wanting you to run the debt right back up ! Strange world we live in.......